Roof ventilator



Feb. '25, 1964 G. v. PATTERSON 3,122,088

ROOF vENTILAToR Filed Nov. 1, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheec 1 INV EN TOR.

Feb. 25, 1964 G, v. PATTERSON ROOF VENTILATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 1 1961 Z i HN i D Z2 HJ 1l l f\ il Z3 l 8 /9 /a 7 5 /2 2 INVENTOR.

,67457/2- V. P41-mesa# A rrazA/frs United States Patent O 3,122,988 RSGF VENTILATGR Gillette V. Patterson, Kokomo, ind., assigner 'to Swartwout Eahricators, luc., Kokomo, Ind. Filed Nov. 1, 1961, Ser. No. 149,457 6 Claims. (Cl. 9S-d3) This invention relates to power driven roof ventilators and more particularly to an improved power driven, weather-proof ventilator having a vertical, upright discharge.

An object of my invention is to provide a roof ventilator to discharge vertically upwardly. Another object is to provide a Ventilating stream of gases, vapors and fluids flowino upwardly and away from a roof surface or in a wa" or direction tending to divert the exhaust stream from the roof and/ or from condensing or accumulating on the roof deleteriously. Another object of my invention is to provide an upright exhaust ventilator that will be weather-proof when the impeller is idle as well as when it is active; that will tend to be self-purging and self cleaning; and that will have an advantageously high speed, well-directed exhaust stream tending to carry condensable liquids and entrained, nongaseous constituents to a height conducive of wide and innocuous dispersion and disappearance.

Another object is to provide such a vertical exhaust ventilator that will have good aerodynamic eliiciency, will be fire, water and acid resistant, will be unobtrusively quiet, and economical to malte, install and operate.

These and other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of a preferred form of my invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE l is a side elevation of my ventilator;

FGURE 2 is a top plan View thereof;

FGURE 3 is a vertical section taken in the plane of the line 3 3 of FIG. 2, except that certain attaching bolts, nuts, spacers and struts have been moved from their true positions shown in FGS. 2 and 4 to the foreground of FIG. 3 for purposes of illustration;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the trarne assembly shown in part in section and elevation in PEG. 3.

ln this preferred form of my invention my ventilator, PlGS. l and 2, comprises a main, cylindrical, open-ended cup-shaped upwardly opening baille 1, carried on a base 2, which also carrier an interior frame 3, FIGS. 3 and 4, which turn carries a motor support baille 4, top cap 5, motor 6 and blower wheel or impeller 7, all detachably secured together with four sets of bolts, nuts and spacers 8 and all adapted to rest on a curb 9 on a roof, not shown, around a roof opening 1i) through which air, gases, vapors, lluids, smoke and/ or other blowable mischief is drawn to the eye of the irnpeller and exhausted therefrom and from my ventilator. l prefer to make the several baliles of reinforced hetron resins, and have, however, employed the more familiar epoxy resins, and l prefer to malte the wheel of aluminum or stainless steel and the frame and nuts and bolts of cadmium plated steel or stainless steel to malte the whole thing quite resistant to deleterious attach by air, water, acid, alkali, smoke and/or lire. Other metals that are coated or galvanized in known ways, and/ or other materials may be substituted for my preferred materials with known relative advantages and disadvantages.

All the parts of the bat'des, cap and base are formed as surfaces of revolution about the vertical axis a of the motor-impeller shaft except that the base beyond about its circular step 12, FIGS. l and 3, may reach out to corners C and taire approximately square form, FIG. 2,

ice

to rest upon, be secured to and flash over a curb for a square roof opening. Alternatively, the base may join entirely in the circular form of the other parts of the ventilator should a circular curb for a round opening be encountered or provided.

Radially inwardly of the circular step 12 the base rises to an annular shelf 13, FiGS. 1 and 3, whereupon the main baille 1 and all the rest of the ventilator parts are carried and detachably secured by the attaching means S. The shelf 13 has a radial width greater than the juxtaposed, inwardly extending, bottom ilange 14 of the main baille 1, and is spaced vertically therefrom about 3A as by the spacing nuts and washers 15. The inner edge of the ange 14 is spaced radially and annularly from the shoulder 16 of the base that rises inwardly of and from the shelf 13 to form the annular gap 14. The width of the gap 14 is preferably no less than the vertical height of the space between the ilange and the shelf and comprises with the latter an annular, angled weep hole for uid that needs draining from this, the lowest area of the interior of my ventilator. inwardly of the shoulder 16 the base has a gentle sloping rise toward the throat 19 over the shelf 17, the upper surface of which at the shoulder 16 is about level with or a little higher than the upper surface of the flange 14 whereby to induce a smooth ilow or" exhaust gases and vapors over and from the base to the main baille across the gap 14 and weep hole 11, whilst non-entrained liquids, rain and melting snow, leave and/or avoid the air stream, and/or flow by gravity, through the weep hole 11 to escape below the frange 1d and tlow over the outer downwardly sloping parts of the base away from the ventilator.

As appears in FIG. 3 the air stream has great width and relatively low speed near the annular weep hole 11, and the general direction of the stream is turning upwardly from horizontal discharge from the blower wheel away from the weep hole about as the relative size and direction of the arrows 1' suggest. These forces taken with gravity coact to separate, divert land/or permit all the liquid and/ or other noneentrained or non-entrainable material that gets into the ventilator or condenses therein to get to and out through the weep hole promptly without aerodynamic interference with the function and operation of the ventilator.

Inwardly of the shelf 17 and proportioned and dispose about as shown in FG. 3, the conical throat wall 1d rises to terminate radially inwardly and upwardly in the throat opening or orifice 19, vis-a-vis the eye of the impeller '7.

Also rising from and supported by the base at the shelf 13, as suggested above, is the motor and impeller supporting frame 3, also FIG. 4. The frame 3 comprises vertically spaced upper and lower pairs of inner and outer, horizontally disposed, vertically aligned rings Ztl and 21 concentric of the axis a and radially spaced from each other and spaced vertically in said pairs by vertical struts 22 having horizontally turned ends 23 to which the rings are secured as by welding or brazing. The rings 20 and 21 may be formed of round steel wire. Their radial spacing preferably is only slightly greater than the diameter of the Shanks and smaller than the heads and nuts of and for each of the bolts comprising the attaching means 8. As shown in FlGS. 3 and 4 these bolts pass between the rings 20 and 21 and may be disposed therebetween at any place throughout the 360 of circumferential length of the rings excepting only where the column-struts 22 and 23 are attached. The struts also may be made of round wire stock, preferably a little heavier than the stock of the rings. For ventilators proportioned about as shown in the drawings and having main battles with top brims e, eases from about 17 to 30'inches in diameter, powered by motors from to '1/2 I-LP. and weighing from about 17 to 64'pounds, l have made the frames 3 all of 1A diameter steel wire as tothe rings 29 and 21 and of 5/16 diameter steel wire as to the struts 22. This provides adequate strength and stiffness for the heaviest of the forms mentioned and a not uneconomical form for the lightest. Stainless steel or other rust resistant wires may be employed or the finished frames should preferably be plated or galvanized for desirable longevity.

The ends 23 of the struts -22 are bent at right angles to the lengths of the struts and are welded to the upper and lower pair of rings in the relation shown whereby to make a right circular cylindrical structure of the frame 3. Preferably, ve struts 22 are employed and equidistantly positioned in each frame parallel to the central axis thereof. When four attaching means `S are employed and unequidistantly related, as I prefer for acoustical reasons among others, ample room is provided in the long circumferential openings between radially adjacent rings and circumferentially spaced struts.

Referring now more especially to FIG. 3, the bolts of the means 3 may extend upwardly through proper holes in the shelf 13, with the bolt heads below the shelf, pass through the spacers 15, aligned holes in the flange 14, between Vthe lower pair of rings 2@ and 21 of the frame, and be threaded into a clamping nut which bears upon and engages the upper faces of the rings Zik-21, or a Washer imposed therebetween; all to secure the baffle 1 and frame 3 to the base 2.

With the frame so positioned the motor support baffle 4 'with the motor 6 and impeller 7 attached thereto and carried thereby, FIG. 3, can be lowered into its operative position within and upon the upper ring of the frame 3 with the periphery of the baffle 4 resting on the upper pair of-rings of the frame, and with the impeller wheel closely clearing, and the eye thereof aligned with, the throat orice 19. The top cap covering and protecting the motor may then befplaced over the motor with the periphery of the cap spaced a little, as at 24, `from the periphery of the motor support baffle to permit breathing and ventilation in the motor chamber. The hormontal disposition of the space 24 and the inwardly adjacent raised annular rib 25 of the baie V4, rising inwardly and upwardly from and above the space 24 prevents ingress of deleterious fluids to the motor chamber. Attaching means 8 firmly secure the baffle 4 and cap 5 to the upper part of the frame through properly aligned holesras the bottom part of the frame is secured to and with the base and main bae, and completes the construction and coaxially aligned assembly of the essential constituent parts of my ventilator.

The relation of the frame 3 tothe cap, baffles and base,

t and the mutual coaction therebetween accomplishes great structure.

As best shown inV FIG. 3, any straight line 26 drawn in the plane of the axis a from the brim of the main baffle lrandrtouching the peripheral edge' of the cap 5 or bailleV 4 will rniss the throat orice 1-9' by a 'wide margin. It follows that my ventilator is weatherproof with the impeller idle since rain and sleet and all such misery cant Y get nearer the throat of the ventilator than the line 25 suggests.

Such adverserelernents entering my ventilator CII will be `drained by gravity olf the cap, down the ini side of the baffle 1 and over the outwardly and downwardly sloping surfaces 18, 17 et. seq. and through the gap 14 and out weep-hole 11 as suggested above. When the impeller wheel is running, the problem of excluding rain from the throat is substantially eliminated aerodynamically, given, to be sure, the drainage of liquid through the weep-hole to prevent a puddle in the bottom of the ventilator flooding over into the throat. The exposure of the interior of the base at and adjacent the shelf 13 to the air and gases rising through the roof opening employs the heat thereof to prevent icing at the weep hole 11 and flooding or freezing my ventilator.

In the operation of my ventilator with power on the exhaust gases tend to ybe given the speed and direction shown by the arrows r, and tend to gain a maximum velocity in a true vertically upward direction within the great baffle l1, adjacent and upwardly beyond the peripheral edge of the baflie 4 and cap 5. This coincidence t of vertical direction and maximum speed, which is achieved by the form, disposition and coaction of the baiiles and the impeller, provides a vigorous, well-defined, highly projected exhaust stream tending to carry the undesirable and unwanted constituents high and far from the roof opening or other intake to the ventilator. When my ventilator is installed upon the end of an exhaust pipe or stack from a kitchen whence water and fatty vapors emanate, the latter will be widely ung to be dissipated harmlessly and prevented from accumulation in harmful quantities with likely re hazard as has been common prior practice with restaurant exhaust ventilators which discharged upon instead of away from the adjacent kitchen roof, walls or parapet.Y

While I have illustrated and described a preferred form and embodiment of my invention, and have given specific examples of sizes and proportions of parts that I have now found to be useful in the best present embodiment that I have presently perfected, still, changes, modiiications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art who come to use and enjoy my invention and understand -my teaching thereabout, all Without departing from the spirit and substance thereof and hereof. Therefore, I do not care to be limited in the scope and effect of my patent forvmy invention tothe forms, examples and embodiments thereof herein specifically illustrated and described, nor in any other way or fashion inconsistent with the progress inthe art which my inven- `tion has promoted.

I claim: 1. A power driven roof ventilator having a vertical axis and comprising an upwardly opening, cup-shaped,V

'ing of said baffle and carrying said impeller and having its peripheral margin concentric with said axis and disposed horizontally near and spaced from the interior surface of said baffle and forming an annular discharge orifice with said baflie for the exhaust st-ream of the ventilator, said ventilator also comprising a base having a central throat opening concentric with said axis and covered by said imperforate means and disposed below and'Y adjacent the entrance to said impeller and having an annular, concentric horizontal shelf disposed outwardly and Vdownwardly away from saidV opening and vertically beneath the said peripheral margin of said imperforate means, means supporting the said bottom of said battleV above said shelf, and means supporting said imperforate means and said impeller above said base, Vsaid base also having an annular shoulder rising inwardly adjacent said shelf and disposed inwardly within the said bottom opening of said baffle and describing an annular drainage gap therewith, the upper surface of the bottom of the bale adjacent said opening being substantially flush with the upper surface of smd shoulder `and providing for the smooth flow of exhaust gases across said drainage gap.

2. A power driven roof ventilator having a vertical axis and comprising an upwardly opening, cup-shaped, main baffle concentric with said vertical axis adapted to direct the exhaust stream of the ventilator vertically upwardly and having an annular, lower, inwardly directed, horizontal ange,

a powered impeller disposed within said cup-shaped battle with its axis coincident with the said vertical axis,

a supporting cover for said imp-aller disposed coaxially of said axis and above said impeller and within said baffle and with its peripheral margin spaced inwardly from said barile and disposed horizontally at a level below the brim of said baille and above said flange,

a base member having an intake throat opening concentric With said axis and disposed below said impeller and having an annular shelf spaced radially outwardly from said opening and underlying said flange,

a frame comprising upper and lower pairs of concentric circular wires and spaced vertical struts attached to the wires, said pairs of wires being secured respectively to the margin of said cover and to the flange of said haii-le whereby to stien said frame and space said cover in said baffle.

3. The ventilator of claim 2 with means supporting said ilange a lsmall appreciable distance above said shelf and supporting said frame and providing a weep hole for drainage of rain which enters said bathe.

4. The ventilator of claim 2 wherein the wires of each of said pairs are spaced apart about the thickness of an attaching bolt and said struts are widely spaced circumferentially and have angled ends welded to the wires of said upper and lower pairs respectively.

5. in 4a roof ventilator having a base and baffles, and having a motor and impeller supported in spaced relation to said base and batlles,

the improved frame `for spacing the motor and impeller from the base and baies comprising upper and lower parallel pairs of concentric, circular, radially spaced wires and circumferentially spaced axially extending struts having angled ends secured respectively to said pairs of wires.

6. A power driven, upwardly-exhausting roof ventilator having a vertical axis, comprising a base having a central orice concentric of said axis and having an annular concentric shelf radially beyond and axially below said orifice,

a concentric, upright cup-shaped bame comprising the discharge passage for the ventilator having a brim and having an inwardly directed bottom horizontal flange dening a bottom opening concentric with said axis, said ange being disposed adjacent to and spaced from said shelf and describing a weep-hole therevvith,

ya space frame rising from said Vilange and supported on said shelf,

means attaching said frame, shelf and flange,

means within said Ibaie carried by said frame and carrying a motor and impeller and housing said motor `and aligning said impeller with the said oriiice in said base and supporting said impeller immediately adjacent said orice, said means having a horizontal margin secured to said frame.

References Cited in the rile of this patent UNlTED SATES PATE TS 2,526,290 Selzman Oct. 17, 1950 2,774,293 Jenn Dec. 18, 1956 2,895,615 Rudy Sept. 1G, 1957 2,823,598 Jenn Feb. 1S, 1958 2,982,128 Mohrman May 2, 1961 2,987,983 Solzman lune 13, 1961 3,040,646 Iueng et al. June 26, 1962 3,045,579 Jenn et al. .luly 24, 1962 

1. A POWER DRIVEN ROOF VENTILATOR HAVING A VERTICAL AXIS AND COMPRISING AN UPWARDLY OPENING, CUP-SHAPED, MAIN BAFFLE CONCENTRIC WITH SAID VERTICAL AXIS HAVING A BRIM AT ITS UPPER END AND HAVING ITS WALL SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL ADJACENT AND BELOW ITS BRIM AND HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL BOTTOM WALL WITH A CENTRAL BOTTOM OPENING THEREIN CONCENTRIC WITH SAID AXIS, SAID BAFFLE DIRECTING THE EXHAUST STREAM OF THE VENTILATOR VERTICALLY UPWARDLY, SAID VENTILATOR ALSO COMPRISING AN IMPELLER WITH ITS AXIS COINCIDENT WITH THE SAID VERTICAL AXIS AND DISPOSED WITHIN SAID BAFFLE IN THE LOWER PORTION THEREOF, IMPERFORATE MEANS DISPOSED ABOVE SAID IMPELLER ABOUT MIDWAY BETWEEN THE SAID BRIM AND SAID BOTTOM OPENING OF SAID BAFFLE AND CARRYING SAID IMPELLER AND HAVING ITS PERIPHERAL MARGIN CONCENTRIC WITH SAID AXIS AND DISPOSED HORIZONTALLY NEAR AND SPACED FROM THE INTERIOR SURFACE OF SAID BAFFLE AND FORMING AN ANNULAR DISCHARGE ORIFICE WITH SAID BAFFLE FOR THE EXHAUST STREAM OF THE VENTILATOR, SAID VENTILATOR ALSO COMPRISING A BASE HAVING A CENTRAL THROAT OPENING CONCENTRIC WITH SAID AXIS AND COVERED BY SAID IMPERFORATE MEANS AND DISPOSED BELOW AND ADJACENT THE ENTRANCE TO SAID IMPELLER AND HAVING AN ANNULAR, CONCENTRIC HORIZONTAL SHELF DISPOSED OUTWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY AWAY FROM SAID OPENING AND VERTICALLY BENEATH THE SAID PERIPHERAL MARGIN OF SAID IMPERFORATE MEANS, MEANS SUPPORTING THE SAID BOTTOM OF SAID BAFFLE ABOVE SAID SHELF, AND MEANS SUPPORTING SAID IMPERFORATE MEANS AND SAID IMPELLER ABOVE SAID BASE, SAID BASE ALSO HAVING AN ANNULAR SHOULDER RISING INWARDLY ADJACENT SAID SHELF AND DISPOSED INWARDLY WITHIN THE SAID BOTTOM OPENING OF SAID BAFFLE AND DESCRIBING AN ANNULAR DRAINAGE GAP THEREWITH, THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE BOTTOM OF THE BAFFLE ADJACENT SAID OPENING BEING SUBSTANTIALLY FLUSH WITH THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID SHOULDER AND PROVIDING FOR THE SMOOTH FLOW OF EXHAUST GASES ACROSS SAID DRAINAGE GAP. 